It only took seven and a half years, two murdered victims, countless hearings, multiple gag orders, and a trial date that ghosted harder than a Lubbock Tinder match, but Xavier Garcia has finally pleaded guilty. Garcia admitted to killing 20-year-old Katrina Castillo back in 2018—after deputies found her tied up and stabbed to death in a backyard off East 2nd Street. The next day, Garcia was found cruising around in her car, which, shockingly, raised a few red flags.
Court records show Garcia confessed during questioning and even provided details investigators hadn’t released, because apparently “remain silent” was not on his bingo card. Prosecutors originally eyed the death penalty but ultimately took the consecutive life-without-parole route—one for Castillo, the other for the separate 2018 murder of Kmydron Jordan. Jordan was found dead in an SUV near 84th and Ave N; police say he’d been shot earlier during a convenience-store encounter at 82nd and I-27.
And through all of this? Garcia has been sitting in LCDC since 2018, racking up one of the longest pre-trial stays in the county. EverythingLubbock tried to get answers about the delays, but the DA’s Office slapped down gag orders like they were passing out raffle tickets. Even the November 17th trial date evaporated and transformed into “evidentiary hearings,” proving once again that the only thing that moves slower than Lubbock traffic during a dust storm is Lubbock’s criminal court calendar.
Meanwhile, Castillo’s family remembered her as a sweet, kind-hearted young woman with her whole life ahead of her—someone who deserved justice long before the calendar needed a seventh new planner.
Seven years of waiting for a confession he already gave in 2018—was the court system running on West Texas Wi-Fi or what?
https://www.kcbd.com/story/38051407/xavier-garcia-charged-with-capital-murder-of-katrina-castillo/